All right, all you JJ-haters! Put your money where your mouth is!

Paramount has just hired you, due to your intense hatred of lens flares and JJ Abrams decision making, to replace JJ Abrams as head of the new Star Trek to follow Into Darkness.

You are free to reboot the series with whomever you feel is fit to play the roles of Kirk and Spock, or you can stick with Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto. But, Paramount wants you to post your casting ideas along with your plot synopsis.

It doesn't have to, really, and hey - who knows? We might see some really good ideas.

Since this thread is intended for the presentation of ideas, though, what I'd really rather not see is more of the same well-worn rants about... well everyone's heard those and knows what they all are, and I honestly don't feel like cataloguing them here. Let's just skip all that and instead keep it positive, creative and imaginative. Any critiques of ideas here presented should necessarily be civil and ought in no way to be taken personally.

I think I see what BillJ is saying. Perhaps push it further into the future.

While I really enjoyed the first Abrams production, and am completely excited for the new film, my own ideas would be this:

1. Just do a full reboot. I think fans could get used to having a new universe with familiar characters but absolutely no ties to the previous continuity.

2. Embrace a bit more of what we're seeing in hard science fiction these days, such as ideas about genetic engineering, space travel, etc. In other words, perhaps see some elements of cybernetic and genetic enhancements for some members of Starfleet and other alien societies.

3. Emphasize the fact that the United Federation of Planets is a truly multi-species, multi-system society. Therefore (and this is extremely small) some of the main characters, say McCoy or Uhura, may not necessarily be from Earth but are instead from various human or Federation-settled colonies. I think they're doing a great job of showing diversity in Starfleet in the Abrams films.

4. Show more diverse alien species. Not every Klingon's a warrior, nor is every Romulan a potential member of the Tal Shiar. Of course, the problem is that I'm not sure how you can show this in a feature length film, but it's something that I think needs to be demonstrated, or at least mentioned, on the big screen.

5. The starship Enterprise in the movies begins in deep space, near the start of the its five year mission. They're so far away from Earth, in fact, that transmissions from Earth to the Enterprise take days to get there. So Kirk and co. are on their own in an unknown part of the galaxy, where they could potentially encounter Klingons, Romulans....and other, mysterious alien species.

I think I'll add more later, but again let me emphasize that I enjoy the Abrams films! I'm intrigued to see what other ideas folks come up with.

Even in TNG's era, it still took hours for a transmission to reach a ship. (See "The Defector")

As for a reboot, cast actors appropriate for their station in life. Captain Kirk was an experienced officer who took command of the Enterprise after a stint as a destroyer-class ship captain. Thinking about that, why not start the first film with him commanding this ship and showing him on the path to commanding the Enterprise? It was constantly repeated in the first series that commanding a starship class vessel represented the pinnacle of an officer's career. Commodore Stone says, in "Court Martial",

Not one man in a million could do what you and I have done. Command a starship. A hundred decisions a day, hundreds of lives staked on you making every one of them right.

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The Next Generation brings up something that I feel isn't explored in Star Trek often.

Data, "The Last Outpost"

They should add also that Starfleet has refused to prevent several civilizations from falling; we have sometimes let the violent and the strong to overcome the weak...

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Finn, "The High Ground"

Captain, there's a lot to admire in the Federation, but there's a hint of moral cowardice in your dealings with non-aligned planets. You do business with a government that's crushing us. And then say you aren't involved. But of course you are. You just don't want to get dirty.

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These two quotes are still topical today, for we see this constantly happening in international diplomacy. I think we see this in what is happening in the Middle East.

I am not capable of writing a story, but I would hire a writer who can do a script that balances action with diplomacy and exploration, and depicts how Kirk manages to solve a crisis with the above quotes as a foundation for that crisis, and how that situation impresses Starfleet to think of him as the right man for a starship command. There are ways I can think of how I would introduce Kirk to Spock and McCoy. I would look to history, for there are instances where similar situations occurred, as inspiration. And, I would be encouraging a story that is strong on science and weak on supernatural phenomena.

As for the other characters, the question is, who is essential to Star Trek? I would keep Scotty for sure. I have always felt that he was important after the trio. Then Sulu, possibly. Uhuru and Chekov are dispensable characters. I have seen another man who rebooted the franchise who elected to forgo a character that some consider important. I am speaking here about Nolan and the Batman franchise and Robin. I think this is important question to answer, for it has been proven in the Star Trek films that in a large ensemble piece that a large number of characters have been slighted. Concentrate on the core, bring in those characters who add to the core, and drop those who don't add to the core.

Not everyone who criticizes Abrams is saying he/she can do better. Even if one admits to not being able to do any better, one is still free to criticize.

I like Abrams and Lindelof's TV work. Loved Lost. I don't really think much of the new Trek. I'm looking forward to the new film not because it's Star Trek, but because it stars Benedict Cumberbatch.

I just wish Star Trek would aim for something a little higher than big dumb flashy Hollywood shoot-'em-ups. The dumbing down of Star Trek happened long before JJ Abrams took the reigns, but that doesn't mean Abrams shouldn't strive for something better.

What I'd like to see from Star Trek would be a reboot which is honest about being a reboot -- no silly time travel plot to try and justify its existence. Just reboot the show and come up with more imaginative stories.

Paramount has just hired you, due to your intense hatred of lens flares and JJ Abrams decision making, to replace JJ Abrams as head of the new Star Trek to follow Into Darkness.

You are free to reboot the series with whomever you feel is fit to play the roles of Kirk and Spock, or you can stick with Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto. But, Paramount wants you to post your casting ideas along with your plot synopsis.

As Abrams is a fine technical director, as the designs and effects work and so on seemed fine and as I think that all the actors played well in STXI I'd keep everybody and merely exchange the writers.
I'd also suggest to change the atmosphere between the movies, cut all the fanwank and avoid too much of a connecting-the-dots, loose trilogy kind of storytelling.

Hmm... I've given this some thought, and there's not much I would change (at least as far as the cast is concerned). I would like to see a more cerebral plot, more like the plot to The Motion Picture, but maybe not with as plodding of a pace. I would like to see Star Trek: Planet of Titans adapted with the new crew, or if we were going full reboot, completely wiping the slate clean, an adaptation of Phase II's Kitumba. But I'm absolutely positive TNG and DS9 lovers would shit their pants over such a reimagining of the Klingon Empire.

I figured as much, but then the image of a Conestoga wagon with weirdly inappropriate nacelles and support struts attached to it (if I had any graphics skills, I'd whip up an example) popped into my head.

I figured as much, but then the image of a Conestoga wagon with weirdly inappropriate nacelles and support struts attached to it (if I had any graphics skills, I'd whip up an example) popped into my head.